Teresa Baker

Teresa Baker (1977) was born in Alice Springs and grew up in Kanpi, South Australia. She lived with her grandparents, the celebrated artist Jimmy Baker and his wife. At the time she lived in Kanpi, the community was in its early stages of development and it had no houses. She later moved to Fregon to live with her mother, artist Kay Baker. 

Teresa completed her schooling in Fregon and in Adelaide. After leaving school, she returned to Kanpi and began working at a school teaching Pitjanjara language. She is married with three children and currently spends her time between Alice Springs, Kanpi and her homelands at Watarru.

Teresa began painting in 2005 at Tjungu Palya art centre, where she was taught by her grandfather, Jimmy Baker. Her mother, Kay Baker, and sister Patricia Tunkin Baker, are also highly regarded and widely collected artists.

Teresa is a talented and intuitive artist, whose paintings possess a great depth of expression. She mostly paints the story of Minyma Malilu, a spiritual ancestor, who travelled from the west to follow her daughters who ran away with the "wrong" man, according to complex Indigenous kinship systems. When she found them, she dug a cave nearby to live in, so she could keep watch over her daughters. Malilu's cave is situated very close to Kanpi community, and songs and ceremony are still performed there by the women, who believe strongly in the spiritual healing capacity of the cave.

Teresa has been a finalist in the AGNSW Wynne Prize and her work is exhibited Internationally and nationally. Her paintings are in high demand and have been collected by major public and private collectors, institutions and galleries.